Accidental stick from contaminated needles, syringes, and other sharp medical equipment contaminated by contact with an infected patient's bodily fluids pose a serious risk to healthcare workers. Proper disposal of "sharps" significantly reduces accidental stick. For example, standard procedures most often require used needles to be covered or recapped prior to disposal.
A sheath is provided to protect the needle point from damage prior to use and is often retained and refitted by the healthcare provider prior to disposal of the used needle. However, replacing a protective sheath requires the healthcare provider to align and push the sheath on the needle. This exposes the worker's hand to the sharp end of the needle and creates a new risk of needle stick injury. If the sheath is misplaced or lost, the needle is often disposed of without being covered.
Recently, certain safety devices for infusion sets have been developed to enclose or contain needles once they have been used. However most of these devices have limitations such as excessive size or require extra manipulation that frustrate their proper and easy use. For example, the devices described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,941,881, 5,069,341, and 5,330,438 are directed to protective sheaths that are slidably disposed on the IV tubing but require extra manipulation and/or are too bulky in size to be reliably and properly utilized.
The present invention overcomes the problems associated with prior procedures and the recently described devices and provides new advantages.